Date & Time

Location

Admission

Contact

Description

An "illuminating and thoughtful overview of the evolution of accessible design in the U.S. between the end of WWII...Williamson skillfully connects design concepts to changing social narratives; this work should reward readers interested in either topic." –Publishers Weekly

Bess Williamson will discuss "Accessible America: A History of Disability and Design." She will be joined in conversation by Matthew Borus. A Q&A and signing will follow the discussion.

At the Co-op

About the book: "Accessible America" provides an extraordinary look at everyday design, marrying accessibility with aesthetic, to provide an insight into a world in which we are all active participants, but often passive onlookers. Richly detailed, with stories of politics and innovation, Bess Williamson takes us through this important history, showing how American ideas of individualism and rights came to shape the material world, often with unexpected consequences.

About the author: Bess Williamson is a historian of twentieth and twenty-first century design and material culture with a particular interest in the effects of disability rights and other social movements on design culture. She is Associate Professor of Design History at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

About the Interlocutor: Matthew Borus is a community organizer and doctoral student in social welfare at the University of Chicago. His work explores disability rights and activism in the 20th and 21st centuries.